Journey to Earth
by Halofan
Summary: Admiral John Thomas and his crew escape from the battle of Reach, but learn that the Covenant isn't the only threat in unchartered space.
1. The Fall of Reach

Chapter 1: The Fall of Reach

The Admiral felt his fingers clenching the railings after the MAC cannon went off. The magnetized round shook the whole cruiser. Admiral John Thomas got off the railings and motioned back to his command station.

He looked around the bridge and saw his crew praying that the MAC would finally bring this enemy frigate down, but the Admiral had his doubts. The _Gladius _was Thomas' cruiser and it had already taken some heavy hits in the hell hole he used to call home.

Reach had fallen to the Covenant. The orbital MACs had shut down, but there were about thirty UNSC ships still ready to fight. John knew it was over, but he felt he owed it to his crew to give them hope. They had done more than enough for John in his times of needs.

The Admiral awoke from his trance just as the MAC round impacted the target frigate and sent it into a spin. The frigate stabilized and with a few flickers, the ship's shields started to recharge. John held his head down for a few moments. He thought about the choices he had. Admiral Thomas could either fire his second MAC cannon and destroy the frigate, or try to bombard the ship with archer missiles to keep the MAC for another ship.

John made his decision. "Fire the second MAC, Lieutenant," barked Thomas. Lieutenant Rick Sullivan gave a quick nod to the Admiral and typed in some keys. Rick had served under John since, the Admiral's rank changed. He knew the weapons system of the _Gladius_ front and back, which would always ensure his position on the bridge.

The Lieutenant finished his typing and announced, "Firing MAC." He hit the enter key and ship shook again as the shell rocketed towards the enemy frigate.

John shifted his attention to the view screens on his station. The MAC broke through the frigate's shield and erupted in flames of the ship's hull. Debris drifted from the flaming destruction and started to descend onto Reach like a meteor.

Thomas smiled at the torn frigate. They would pay for what they did to Reach. John looked over at the port side view screen and was puzzled at what he saw.

"Ensign Chau?" said the Admiral. David Chau had been on board this ship as long as Sullivan, which gave him his seat as the navigational expert and the tech expert on the bridge.

"Yes sir?" Chau responded.

"Bring up the port side view screen," the Admiral said. If the Admiral was right, a ship just jumped out of system. John looked at the larger image of his port side. "Do you see that flicker Ensign?"

Chau squinted and the widened his eyes in disbelief. He fidgeted for his keyboard and zoomed in on the flicker. "Let me just clean up the resolution," reported Chau as he was typing, "And… there you go."

The blurry image cleared up in an instant and the Admiral just watched the words spread across the jumping ship's side.

_Pillar of Autumn._

Lieutenant Damien Holmes held down the trigger on his joystick. His Longsword fighter had been chasing down this Seraph for over five minutes, and he couldn't live through another mistake.

The Seraph took a quick right turn, but Damien wouldn't let him go now. He rammed his joystick to the right and tried to set up a bead. The crosshairs were shaking uncontrollably but Damien had been in worse situations.

Left, then right again, the Seraph turned and accelerated, but he couldn't lose the Lieutenant. Damien squeezed the joystick with all his strength to stabilize it. The crosshairs lined up for a split second and then the Seraph exploded.

The twenty-year old Lieutenant had just come back from Sigma Octanus IV, on the _Gladius, _before he was deployed at Reach. He and about all of his Longsword pilots knew it was over, but they wanted to send as much of those Covies to Hell as they possibly could.

He was the superior officer to all of the Longsword pilots, but had recently turned the Admiral's offer of being on the bridge of the _Gladius_. He was supposed to take the seat of the Damage control expert. Damien knew that he would have a bigger impact on the war out on a Longsword though.

The Lieutenant looked through the space to find his comrades, but they were no where to be found.

Then he got the message from the Admiral, "This is the Admiral speaking, all Longsword ships return to the _Gladius_. I repeat, all Longsword ships return to the _Gladius_."

Damien looked at the Covenant capital ship in front of him. Damien took a deep breath and turned his ship around. "I guess this nuke will have to wait."

"I want us ready to jump as soon as those Longswords get through those hatches!" barked the Admiral at David.

"But sir, what about the battl-," The Ensign was interrupted.

"Ensign," said the Admiral, "This battle is over. Now get our slipspace generator online and randomize those coordinates."

John looked to the Lieutenant Holmes' Longswords on his view screen. They were all speeding towards the _Gladius. _The Admiral wondered if the pilots knew he wanted to jump. Thomas knew that Damien would be upset with leaving, but the Admiral only had the best in mind.

Lieutenant Chau had finished charging the generators, but the Longswords still weren't in.

Then a jolt of energy rocked the ship. John flew forward and hit the ground hard. He let out a moan as he slowly brought himself up. "What the hell was that?"

One of the Lieutenants in the back answered him, "Sir, a Covenant ship has spotted us."

John rolled his eyes at the obvious statement and looked at his view screen. Damien and his squadron were pulling into the docking bay.

"Another bolt is gonna hit in ten seconds."

"Get us out of here Ensign!" screamed the Admiral.

Ensign Chau scrambled for the activation button and finally pressed it. The _Gladius_ was engulfed in light right as the plasma bolt passed by.


	2. Slipspace

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. Keep em' coming

Chapter 2: Slipspace

Slipspace. The alternate dimension to humanities own puzzled the Admiral. The swirling tunnel of light was out of the ordinary. Most ONI scientists believe it was to accurately send a ship to its destination. But ever since the Covenant, John had his doubts about ONI.

The researchers were determined that the Human race was the only able-minded species in the universe. They were determined that the only thing to worry about was some rebels in an asteroid field.

They were wrong.

John shook himself out of his trance and gazed at his bridge. His entire crew had been silent since the departure from Reach. The only sounds were the occasional ETA updates from Ensign Chau.

Admiral Thomas had felt bad for David. The twenty-four year old Ensign had a life on Reach. His two brothers and father served on _Thor's Hammer_. The UNSC frigate had been in repairs during the battle for Reach.

David still did his job with perfection, despite the emotional trauma he must have gone through. Of course, John still recognized the fact that the Ensign questioned his orders.

The interjection had hardly been troublesome, and the Admiral knew it was the Ensign's love for his family that made him speak out. But, it had almost cost them their lives.

If David had stalled a second longer, that plasma bolt would have torn through the _Gladius'_ hull. They were all lucky; lucky to escape with only a few burn marks and one tear through the aft part of Deck 7.

"ETA to randomized coordinates in twenty minutes sir," reported the Ensign.

John nodded towards David and the Ensign turned back to his station. The Admiral had a lot of choices that could be made. The _Gladius _could hit the ground running and try immediately jump back to Earth, or another randomized location to lose the Covenant. The least favorite choice of the Admiral's would be to engage the Covenant.

John cleared his throat and spoke to his crew. "Sullivan!" The Lieutenant turned to the Admiral, "I want our MAC hot and all safeties on our missiles disengaged."

Rick began to type then looked in shock at John. "Sir?" the Lieutenant started, "That's over seven-hun-."

"I know." John interjected, "Seven-hundred missiles." Rick sighed and finished his typing. The _Gladius _was going to need a miracle.

"ETA is ten minutes."

---

A heavy sigh escaped from Damien as he entered his room. The Lieutenant's room looked like a battlefield. Mattress stuffing and the torn remnants of their host littered the floor of the Deck 7 cabin.

"I ain't cleaning that up," proclaimed the Lieutenant. Damien had a slight problem with talking to himself sometimes, whether it was about battle or whatever else he just had to get out.

"Well I'm not either." Damien chuckled and turned around. A blonde woman dressed in her pilot suit stood in front of the Lieutenant.

"Caught me talking to myself again, Rachel." Rachel had been Damien's roommate, pilot, and girlfriend for over a month. She was an ace at flying and had been sent to _Gladius _on a special request from the Admiral.

When everyone found out her last name, they knew why. It seemed the Admiral had to keep a good eye on his daughter, so he transferred her in.

Damien and Rachel's relationship was a secret to him for reasons Rachel wanted to keep private. The Lieutenant was not looking forward to the day the Admiral found out about them.

Rachel ran up to Damien with open arms. The two pilots kissed and started making moves for each other's clothing. The two were shaken apart though, by a sudden burst of movement from the _Gladius._

---

"What the hell was that?" John looked at his crew, but only Lieutenant Connor Hughes replied.

"It was probably us exiting slipspace sir," said Hughes, "We were scheduled to exit now."

Hughes was right, but John had never felt that rough of an exit from slipspace. "Do a systems check and see if everything is all right."

Connor started the scan and lay back in his chair. The over confident Lieutenant only had one job and it was to scan the systems aboard the _Gladius._ The Admiral always heard him bragging about his accomplishments on past ships and about what he had done when he was on Sigma Octanus IV.

The Lieutenant, in shortest terms, got on everyone's nerves.

"Scan for Covenant ships, Ensign," ordered John. Everything seemed to be too good.

"No hostile ships sir," reported the Ensign. The sighs of relief from the bridge were louder than a bullet.

"Uh sir,' said Hughes, "You have to see this." John walked over to the Lieutenant's station and looked over his shoulder.

**Error! Slipspace generator has been damaged and is in need of repair. WARNING! Generator must be fixed within in the allotted time: 1 hour.**


End file.
